After announcing the new D4 flagship D-SLR at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month, Nikon is now announcing its second full frame D-SLR of the year: the D800 Digital SLR.

The new D800 doesn't quite match up to the high-end D4, but is instead the smaller and less expensive relative. However, it still packs a pretty mean catalogue of features and is meant for professional use. The D800, according to Nikon, is intended for shooting multimedia content, weddings and high fashion.

“Whatever the project, visionaries need a tool that is going to help them stay on-time and on-task,” said Bo Kajiwara, director of marketing, Nikon Inc. “The Nikon D800 re-imagines what is possible from this level of D-SLR, to address the needs of an emerging and ever changing market; this is the camera that is going to bridge the gap for the most demanding imaging professionals, and provide never before seen levels of SLR image and video quality. The D800 is the right tool for today’s creative image makers, affording photographers, filmmakers and videographers a versatile option for capturing the ultimate in still image quality or full HD content, with maximum control.”

The D800 will likely be a hit with video enthusiasts due to its manual exposure controls in video mode and 1080p recording at 30, 25 and 24 fps. Users can also send uncompressed video to a monitor through HDMI as the video is being captured.

New D800 buyers can expect a high-speed USB 3.0 connector, which is also compatible with USB 2.0 cables at slower transfer rates, and two card slots, where one is for CompactFlash cards and the other is for SDHC/SDXC cards.

The D800 is both smaller and cheaper than the D4, with a size of 5.7 inches wide, 4.8 inches tall and 3.2 inches deep (compared to the D4 with 6.3 inches wide, 6.2 inches tall and 3.6 inches deep) and a price of $2,999.95 (compared to the D4's $6,000 price tag).

In addition to the D800, Nikon will also release the D800E, which eliminates the D800's integrated low-pass filter. The price for the D800E is $3,299.95.

The D800 will be available in March while the D800E will be released in April. The D4 ships in February.